The present invention relates to an apparatus for turning pages of books, particularly a music book, which is used when a music performer plays a musical instrument. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for turning pages of a music book which is improved over a conventional apparatus disclosed in the applicant""s Korean Patent Application No. 1998-41445 and in which a pressing piece disposed at a top end of an actuating lever of the apparatus turns pages of a music book while the actuating lever pivots on a hinge leftward when a music performer hits a power switch with his/her foot.
The conventional apparatus disclosed in the aforementioned Korean patent application turns a page of a music book in such a manner that when a music performer manipulates an operation button 14 with his/her foot, an actuating lever 20 is raised upwardly from a support 10 along a guide groove 10a by driving force of a motor installed within the support 10 and then pivots along the guide groove 10a in a state where a roller 61 fixed to a leading end of the actuating lever 20 presses down the page of the book, as schematically shown in FIGS. 10 and 11.
However, the conventional apparatus has the following disadvantages in view of its operation due to structural defects. In case of a bulky book, when the actuating lever 20 pivots to turn a page of the book, a supporting rod 30 is not timely separated from the page, and thus, the turned page is crumpled or torn. On the contrary, in case of a thin book, when the actuating lever 20 pivots, the supporting rod 30 is separated from the page of the book too early, and thus, one or more pages are turned together.
Further, since the actuating lever 20 takes the shape of a strip, a central portion of the page bulges toward the guide groove 10a and comes into contact with an inner surface of the actuating lever 20 when the actuating lever 20 pivots along the guide groove 10a. Thus, there is a problem in that since the roller 61 for pressing down the page is spaced apart from the page, the page cannot be smoothly turned.
Moreover, since the supporting rod 30 protrudes upwardly too much from a top surface of the support 10, it is inconvenient to carry or store the apparatus. In addition, since the width of a trajectory of the actuating lever 20 becomes inherently large in view of its structure, the width of the guide groove 10 becomes also large. Therefore, there is another operational problem in that the page of the book is caught in the guide groove.
Accordingly, the present invention is conceived to solve the problems as mentioned above. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for turning pages of a book, wherein whenever a user manipulates a power switch to supply electric power to a motor, an actuating lever presses down and carries the page of the book to correctly turn pages of the book while pivoting along a guide groove and then returns to an initial position, so that the user can concentrate his/her attention on his/her performance of a music instrument.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for turning pages of a book, wherein when an actuating lever turns the page of the book and then returns to the initial position, the actuating lever can be prevented from interfering with adjacent components densely disposed in a narrow space within a body of the apparatus and thus can be smoothly operated.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for turning pages of a book, wherein the width of a groove for guiding of an actuating lever is minimized to prevent the page from being caught in the guide groove and foreign materials such as dust from being introduced into the guide groove, and flexibility in a product design can be increased.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for turning pages of a music book, wherein a pressing piece of an actuating lever for contacting and carrying a central lower portion of the page of the book is properly controlled in view of its contacting/separating direction and contact time so as to prevent the pressing piece from slipping on the page of the book and the page from being turned back due to contact with the pressing piece when the actuating lever returns an initial position.
In order to achieve the above objects, an apparatus for turning pages of a book includes a housing in which a geared motor rotatable in forward and reverse directions and associated with an actuating lever driven when a user applies electric power thereto is installed and a backing plate for supporting the book thereon is formed; and a cover of the housing provided with a guide groove for guiding the actuating lever and with a supporting piece for fixing the page of the book which has been turned. The apparatus further comprises a rotational-direction changing unit having a guider formed on a side of a reduction gear for finally reducing a rotational speed of the geared motor; a pivoting unit having the actuating lever of which a lower end is hingedly secured on a pivoting shaft and the other upper end is formed with a pressing piece fixed thereto and which extends through a guide slot; a pressing/restraining unit having a helical depressing piece which surrounds the other upper end of the actuating lever and of which a lower end is fixed through a pin to a fixing member that is fixed through a pin to the body, and elastic members connected to the fixing member and a lower end of the depressing piece, respectively; and a contacting/releasing unit having a stopper interlocked with a crankshaft, and a pressure contact member connected through a wire and an elastic member to the stopper and connected to an elastic member so that the pressure contact member can pivot in a fore and aft direction.